Roads in Witpoortjie wash away
Prosperity Road has become nearly impassable due to the massive potholes at the entrance to the street.
Residents of Prosperity and South roads are frustrated over the massive deterioration of water infrastructure and roads in the area.
A drive down South Road reveals a constant stream of water running past Hoërskool Die Adelaar toward Prosperity Road, which is nearly inaccessible due to several large potholes right at the entrance to the street.
“This water has been running for about a year now,” says Charlie Kruis. “It emanates from a water pumping station next to the Witpoortjie Recreation Centre. It used to have a metal cover, but that has long been stolen off.”
Kruis adds that the water pumping station overflows nearly every night, resulting in water running down the road.
“This has caused the formation of the huge potholes at the entrance of Prosperity Road.
“We can’t even ask Johannesburg Roads Agency to fix the road. The continuously leaking water will just erode it again.”
A short drive down Prosperity Road reveals that the water runs down to Chaucer Avenue.
The resulting potholes cover the entire width of the road, forcing motorists to drive onto the sidewalk, to the dismay of residents who find themselves spending thousands of rands fixing their driveways.
“There have been so many close calls here,” says Kruis. “I’m surprised there hasn’t been a major accident yet.
“This stretch of road is dark at night, and many a motorist has had to replace tyres and rims after driving through these holes.”
Not 50m down the road, a large hole, where Johannesburg Water carried out repairs on a water pipe nearly a year ago, but did not close the hole, is now filled with litter.
“All these issues were reported time and again, but not a single thing has been done by the entity to address them,” says Kruis.
“They sometimes come out and stand around like tyre kickers at a second-hand car dealer. The last contractor let out a long whistle and said ‘it’s a big problem’. He left, and we’ve not heard from them again. This was three months ago.”
The Roodepoort Record approached Johannesburg Water’s communications officer, Nolwazi Dhlamini, for answers, which have not been forthcoming by the time of publication.
